How To Prevent Stress-Induced Weight Gain This Holiday Season

No doubt about it. The Holidays are one of the busiest and most stressful times of the year. And one of the biggest contributors to Holiday stress is the threat of holiday weight gain. Ironically, when it comes to gaining weight during the Holidays, food isn't your only enemy. Stress, more specifically, the effects of stress on your body can cause you to really pack on the pounds.

When you experience stress, your body releases a "hormone cocktail" consisting of epinephrine, nor-epinephrine, adrenaline and cortisol. Together, these hormones work to give you the speed and strength you need to escape dangerous situations. This hormonal kick-in-the-pants is called the "fight or flight" response.

Back in the day when we were a little closer to nature, this "fight or flight" response acted as our defense mechanism, providing us with what we needed to escape raging wooley mammoths or fierce saber toothed tigers. Escaping wild life requires a great deal of energy. If, when caught by surprise, you didn't have sufficient energy levels, you would quickly find yourself on the wrong end of the food chain.

The hormone responsible for providing you with life-saving energy is cortisol. Simply, during times of stress, cortisol releases carbohydrates and fat from their places of storage and breaks down muscle tissue which can be processed into a useful fuel for the brain and muscles.

Once the threat is gone, cortisol signals the body to refuel by increasing your appetite. Unfortunately, in today's day and age, our need to escape wildlife has been greatly diminished and has been replaced with dangerously aggressive drivers, overbearing relatives, overdue reports, defiant children and so much more less physically demanding sources of stress.

The increase in appetite combined with greatly reduced physical activity and a never-ending supply of Holiday treats spells...

Holiday Weight Gain!

Here are four simple things you can do to reduce the effects of stress and cortisol this Holiday season:

1. Take regular timeouts. Whether you take a leisurely walk, spend time meditating or read a good book. Taking time to do something just for you will help keep stress levels manageable. The timeout needn't be long. 15 minutes to relax and unwind can do wonders.
2. Enlist help. Don't feel like you have to be the Holiday martyr and take on more than you can deal with. For instance, if the idea of cooking the Holiday meal sends you running under the covers, ask different family members to bring separate dishes for the big meal. If you don't want to impose on anyone, what about having parts of the big dinner catered?

   If you're feeling the pressure to get the house looking just right, consider hiring a decorating student to help you with Holiday decorating. How about hiring a window cleaning company to put up your Christmas lights. Be creative and realize you really don't have to do it all.

3. Get plenty of sleep. Sleep helps to re-energize the body and allows you to function with more clarity and mental focus. This results in being able to accomplish more in less time.
4. Get some exercise. Talk to any medical, health or fitness expert and they will all agree that one of the very best things you can do to combat the negative effects of stress and cortisol is to exercise.

   Exercise releases stress-fighting endorphins and can lower cortisol levels and helps burn off excess calories that inevitably come with the Holidays.

   I know, I know. You're busy and just don't have time to exercise. There's no need for you to spend hours exercising in order to reap the benefits of exercise. In as little as 20 minutes you can see dramatic results.

Resolve to make this your most enjoyable Holiday season yet. Take time to enjoy everything that makes the Holidays a wonderful time of year. And if you feel yourself becoming stressed and overwhelmed, take a moment to ask yourself if this is what you want your Holiday season to be about.